1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing and maintaining a data communications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for conveying network management data that is communicated via an information bus to an existing umbrella management system.
2. The Background
The ability to provide data communications networking capabilities to the personal user and the professional community is typically provided by telephone companies (Telcos) or commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who operate network access points along the information superhighway. Network access points which are commonly referred to as Points of Presence or PoPs are located within wide area networks (WANs) and serve to house the network interfaces and service components necessary to provide routing, bridging and other essential networking functions. It is through these network access points that many users are able to connect with public domains, such as the Internet and private domains, such as the user's employer's intranet.
As a way of implementing comprehensive networks within an ISP or Telco these service providers have traditionally used a composite umbrella management system to monitor devices and applications. Such systems have been successful in networking the numerous functional operations required by a service provider. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an umbrella management system 10 implemented by a Telco. In most Telco applications, the umbrella management system 10 shown in FIG. 1 manages a standard Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The use of PSTNs within Telcos is well known by those of ordinary skill in the art and PSTNs have been the standard within the telephone communication industry for decades. In this example the umbrella management system 10 is capable of monitoring various operations that are performed by a Telco. OpenView™ from Hewlett Packard of Cupertino, Calif. is one example of such an umbrella management system. Many Telcos have also developed in-house proprietary systems for umbrella management. For example, the umbrella management system 10 is capable of providing a network for accounting maintenance 12, rating schemes 14, customer billing 16, customer credit checks 18, customer account verification 20, and customer care 22. Additionally, the umbrella management system 10 has the capability to communicate with another network 24 and a network management application 26. Information is able to flow to and from the various entities that comprise the comprehensive umbrella management system 10. For example, customer billing 16 is able to benefit from information provided to it by accounting maintenance 12 and/or rating schemes 14. The umbrella management system 10 uses various routers, switches, bridges and other network interface devices to accomplish the overall network scheme.
While umbrella management systems, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, have shown over the years to be extremely useful, they have in some cases also proven to be outdated and complex systems that do not lend themselves to ease of adaptability to other network systems. The large complex nature of these systems has made it nearly impossible for the users of such systems to consider overhauling or replacing such systems. These systems have evolved over time and many resources, financial and otherwise, have gone into structuring such systems. The users of such umbrella management systems are in many cases unwilling to bear the financial burden that would be encountered if such systems were to be replaced.
In many instances, the umbrella management system used by one company will be drastically different in form from that of another company, yet ultimately provide the similar function and features. The differences in systems is attributed to the systems being, for the most part, constructed piece-meal, over long periods of time and predominately built in-house. Additionally, the umbrella management systems, also commonly referred to as legacy or heritage systems, use products that are obsolete or very heterogenous in nature. Many in-house developed umbrella management systems use outdated programming codes that have shown to be difficult to update. In most instances the programming codes have been written in-house and the ability to update these codes or to make them work with other codes is very limited. These outdated programming languages have exhibited undocumented dependencies, non-decomposable architectures and duplicative functionality.
The network service providers that implement umbrella management systems are confronted with the problem of integrating new and improved data communications networking systems into the umbrella management system environment. The complexity and hierarchy built in to the umbrella management systems have in the past made it very difficult for interfaces to be constructed that will allow for seamless, simplified entry into the umbrella management system environment. Additionally, the users of such umbrella management systems are not willing to invest in interfaces that may involve long-term code maintenance. Thus, a desired interface will be generic in nature; capable of capturing information from another data communications network, filtering the information so that only desired information is forwarded, formatting it to meet the requirements of the umbrella management system, and ultimately, forwarding the information to the umbrella management system.